Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Brewers shortstop Willy Adames called his shot in the ninth inning Tuesday night
It was a moment out of a movie.
Thursday night at Kauffman Stadium the hometown Kansas City Royals pushed across four runs in the sixth inning, building a lead which they took into the ninth inning against the visiting Milwaukee Brewers. With closer James McArthur on the hill and the Royals leading 5-3, the Kansas City fans were starting to feel a win.
Including those sitting behind home plate.
McArthur erased the first two hitters, but then William Contreras laced a payoff pitch down the left-field line for a double. That brought Gary Sanchez to the plate and Willy Adames, who had been enjoying some banter with the fans all night long, to the on-deck circle.
As the Royals fans jawed with the Milwaukee shortstop, Adames warned them to be careful what they wish for, and that if Sanchez managed to work a walk, the game might be over before they know it.
“He’s carrying on with [the fans] during Gary’s at-bat, and he’s telling them — they’re Kansas City fans — he’s telling them, ‘One more ball,’” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said after the game. “Then he goes back to them and goes, ‘Here we go.’”
There Adames went.
The Milwaukee shortstop deposited a curveball into the Brewers’ bullpen in left field, the three-run shot giving the visitors a 6-5 lead in the ninth:
After touching home plate, Adames made sure to high five the fans he was chatting with before his at bat.
Milwaukee held on for the win, and after the game both Murphy and Adames talked about the exchange with the Kansas City faithful.
“Willy is announcing to them ‘if I get up there, we’re gonna take the lead,’” described Murphy. “He turns back to them and goes ‘watch this:’”
#Brewers Manager Pat Murphy talks about Willy Adames calling his shot to the fans in the 9th inning.
“He’s telling the fans he’s going to do it. Gary walks, (Willy) turns back and he goes ‘watch this’…bam.” pic.twitter.com/0b2BJHH6BB
— Hunter Baumgardt (@hunterbonair) May 8, 2024
“They were talking, talking the whole game,” said Adames to Bally Sports Wisconsin after the win. “They were friendly. They were like ‘we want you, we want you.’ And I told them, are you sure about that?”
They might have been sure before that at bat.
But they definitely were not sure after.
